Widget Development

1 Introduction

A Mendix custom widget is a part of the user interface in your Mendix app that enables functionality and interaction with the users of the app. A custom widget can alter the interface, data, and images of the app as well as the way the app works. These custom widgets bridge the gap between using standard Mendix components (for example, buttons and list views) and creating very specific components yourself.

Custom widget development can be difficult at the beginning. The resources below will help you start your widget development.

2 Prerequisites

In order to create widgets, you need a good understanding of how JavaScript works. These texts can help you get started:

3.3 Widget Scaffolding

In the past we created widgets using Brackets and a plugin. With the new JavaScript/Node.JS tools that have recently come out, we deprecated this way of creating widgets. The new way of creating widgets is done using Yeoman and a generator.

3.4 Interacting with Mendix Runtime

Widgets have the ability to get data from the Runtime, manipulate objects, show validations, and set references. This is done through the Client API. For the latest version of the this API, see Client API.

3.5 Configuring the Widget in Mendix

Mendix has a specific way of configuring your widget through the use of an XML file. For more information and an example, see WidgetName in the AppStoreWidgetBoilerplate repository.